


Cold Feet

by nonameforhire



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, FICWEEK, First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Unrequited Love, awkward confessions, callum is a dweeb we stan, i swear to GOD this is NOT a foot fetish thing please believe me, this kind of got away from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 14:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19153120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonameforhire/pseuds/nonameforhire
Summary: “It all started when Callum, in his sleep-induced haze, placed his feet on top of hers in the middle of the night.”In which Callum’s cold feet at night leads to a rather unexpected outcome for all involved.Written for #ficweek!





	Cold Feet

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up in a cold sweat to think of this idea yesterday morning, so enjoy. I feel like it’s worth mentioning that I’ve never really written one-shots before? Just long stories that end up giving me headaches (shameless plug: just like my other story, The Boy with the Moon Rune Tattoo, please check it out!).

It all started when Callum, in his sleep-induced haze, placed his feet on top of hers in the middle of the night.

Rayla had been in the middle of sharpening her blades with a nice whetstone they had managed to pick up from a town just a week previous, so she didn’t notice at first. The cave they were staying in was nice and cozy, placed in such a way that the wind from outside did not reach in. It was her turn to keep watch, something that she insisted on doing despite the fact that they were now in an almost-abandoned part of Xadia. Of course, the reason it was abandoned was because it was a desert with no wood to make a campfire, but she would take what she could get. Maybe Callum’s optimism was rubbing off on her.

She felt a sudden weight on her feet. She frowned, sitting up straighter. She’d rested her legs out in front of her to stretch them out after a long day of walking, but apparently her feet also served another purpose.

Zym was lying on top of her ankles, which were covered up by Callum’s cold and sock-covered feet. Before she could say anything to move the wee dragon, he sighed contentedly and laid his tail over his eyes. Snores rose from the infant a moment later.

Rayla exhaled heavily and laid her whetstone and sword next to her. This was…not ideal. Under normal circumstances, she would have pushed Callum’s feet away before she inevitably dozed off (which was happening more often than she cared to admit lately), but Zym…well, Zym was the bloody  _ dragon prince _ , and he was too cute while he was sleeping to move him. Plus, the last time Rayla had tried to move a slumbering Zym, he had whined so loudly that she was worried it would attract predators. She wasn’t sure if she was allowing the young prince to be lazy, but she knew that the dragon definitely valued his sleep.

She pursed her lips as she thought, trying to figure a way out of this that left her with some of her dignity intact. She could always stay awake all night, but it was really unnecessary; there was no one around, and Callum had already told her before he fell asleep that there was no need for her to wait up that night. Plus there would be a lot of ground to cover tomorrow, and she would only be a detriment to the group if she were a sleep-deprived zombie.

But there was no way she could fall asleep like this. She’d always been a light sleeper―something that Runaan had always told her was a gift, to be able to sense danger while she was still slumbering―which meant that she couldn’t fall asleep while sitting up. That was something that Runaan had tried (and failed) to drill into her as well; an assassin had to be able to sleep wherever, whenever, or so he’d told her on many occasions. Regardless, if she wanted to keep Zym happy and avoid waking either of the princes in the shelter with her, she would have to lie down.

That in and of itself presented a whole host of problems. For one, there was no guarantee that adjusting her position wouldn’t wake anyone up anyway. For another, she would have to lie next to Callum.

It wasn’t like she didn’t want to. In fact, she’d thought about sleeping closer―quite a bit closer―to him on many occasions. But she  _ shouldn’t _ sleep closer, and her common sense had always held her back.

Callum was a  _ human _ . There was no way that, even if he reciprocated her feelings for him (which he most certainly did  _ not _ ), they could have a happy ending. Elves and humans didn’t get along; elves and humans being… _ close _ was highly frowned upon (forbidden, actually) by both sides of the war.

Rayla cleared her throat softly to clear her mind of such frivolous details. She had more pressing matters; like  _ how on earth she was supposed to get any sleep that night. _

For a moment, she considered being cruel and allowing Zym to tumble to the floor as she moved her feet, but dismissed the idea after a moment. She could never be mean to any innocent creature, but the fact that it was the  _ dragon prince _ only made that proposition worse.

She forced herself to swallow her pride―and her rather messy feelings regarding the human asleep just a few feet away.

“Do it for the dragon, Rayla,” she told herself with a frown. Sighing quietly, she carefully maneuvered herself so that she was lying down (and a safe distance away from Callum) with her feet still underneath Callum’s and Zym. Carefully and slowly, she turned so that her back was facing Callum. 

There. That should solve the issue.

**< |>**

Callum woke feeling more warm and comforted than he had in months. For a moment, he could almost imagine that he was back in bed in the castle that was his home, curled up in bed with the scent of pine wafting all around…

Wait. The scent of pine?

_ Rayla. _

His eyes snapped open, blinking away the blurriness of the morning as he took in the scene in front of him.

Rayla was lying in front of him, her hands curled up near her face. She was still asleep―thank  _ heavens _ ―and she had a little smile on her face as she slept. She was  _ very  _ close, their faces just six inches apart; so close that he could feel the heat radiating from her body.

Callum felt his face redden in the worst blush he’d ever had in all of his fifteen years. If she woke up and discovered their bodies so close to one another, she would no doubt scramble away immediately and demand to know how such a thing had happened.

That was something that he himself was wondering. Carefully, without moving so as to avoid waking the Moonshadow elf in front of him, he looked around to see if there was some sort of outside cause for this.

He soon found the answer. His feet were on top of Rayla’s, and Zym, the cute little dragon, was fast asleep on top. 

Callum could have kicked himself. This was completely his fault…not that he was complaining.

His feet often grew cold while he slept. He wasn’t sure  _ why _ , because it wasn’t an issue that anyone else seemed to have―at least not to his extent―but, back in Katolis, he’d kept an extra blanket at the other side of his bed in order to keep himself from waking up in the middle night with frozen feet. Now that he was away from home, he usually slept with his feet near the campfire to counteract the problem, but with no firewood, he must have covered her feet with his in the middle of the night to keep them warm. Rayla, in her infinite compassion, must not have wanted to wake him or Zym by moving.

He…wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do next. He wasn’t sure he  _ wanted  _ to do anything other than lie there. Rayla looked so peaceful while she was sleeping, with that small little smile on her face. He wasn’t used to seeing her look so relaxed―in the past couple of weeks, her main concern had been making sure that both he and Zym stayed safe. Xadia was full of plenty of dangers for her to worry about.

Callum felt a small smile spread across his lips as the sun rose outside the cave. Rayla was always protecting them, because she was the kindest person he had ever met. She was compassionate, and intelligent, and strong, and…

…and now he knew what he wanted to do next. He wanted to get even closer, if that was even possible.

That was normal between friends, wasn’t it?

He swallowed tightly as he continued to stare at her slumbering form. She would probably smack him if she knew that he was looking at her for so long. Either that, or she would have teased him about it. Who knew what she would do if she knew about his sudden urge to gently move the strand of hair resting on her cheek out of the way, or his desire to close the distance between them, or―

She stirred. He snapped his eyes shut quickly.

He heard her yawn as she woke up, and then felt her tense beside him as she realized that he was so close, as he had just done a few minutes ago. He even felt the exhalation of breath on his face, and for some reason had to fight down a shiver.

Callum tried his best to stay still as Rayla carefully worked her feet out from under him. The moment she was free, she scrambled away, much to his disappointment (and surprise at that disappointment). Before he had time to contemplate what that meant, she was gently nudging him “awake.”

“Wake up, you dumb human.”

He couldn’t help but grin as he opened his eyes and stared up at her. He rather liked that nickname that she had started using for the past few weeks. Her hands were on her hips as she stared down at him, and the sunlight filtering into the cave illuminated her violet eyes in such way that it made his heart skip one of its designated beats and start chasing butterflies instead.

“G’morning,” he groaned, sitting up and working out the kinks in his shoulder and back. His greeting was distracted, for he had just realized some crucial information.

This wasn’t normal between friends. Not in the slightest.

**< |>**

The next few days were very illuminating for Callum. They passed out of the deserts of Xadia and into a green forest, though fortunately it was not one that was particularly well populated. All the same, he wore his cloak over his head, and Rayla painted some runes onto his face with moonberry juice, just in case.

He had always found the experience of having his face painted somewhat uncomfortable, but now it was almost unbearable for the simple fact that it made his face burn as hot as a bonfire. Often, he didn’t know where to look, and with every passing second he wondered if Rayla could feel the heat in his face as she steadied his cheek with her fingers and gently wiped fruit juice on his face. He had to endure that everyday for three days. 

And  _ then _ there had been the incident where they’d passed another group of Earthblood elves on a dirt road that hadn’t been often used. Rayla was the first to realize that Callum wasn’t wearing any four-fingered gloves, and had thought fast, as always. She’d grabbed his right hand in her left one and instructed him to shove his other hand inside his cloak. He’d barely been able to follow her directions, because he had been so busy thinking about how nicely her four-fingered hand fit into his five-fingered one.

And  _ now _ Callum was flushing deeply as Rayla returned from gathering berries. At some point, it had begun to rain, so when she entered the cave that was their shelter, there were hundreds of water droplets in her hair and on her face, and the light of the campfire only served to light up her beauty more, and his heart was pounding on the inside of his ribcage, and―

And  _ oh, man,  _ he  _ fancied _ her. He fancied her so badly that it made his chest ache and made all other childhood crushes pale in comparison. It was only made worse by the recent realization that he had fancied her for quite a while, but had always written off the butterflies and warmth that accompanied her presence as “adrenaline,” or “hunger.”

“Callum!”

He blinked. Rayla was standing in front of him, holding out his portion of the night’s berries. He realized, with a horrible sense of embarrassment, that she had been calling his name for quite some time now.

“Oh!” he said, cursing the heat that rose to his cheeks. “Right. Yes. Sorry. I…will take those from you now.”

Rayla shot him a confused look, her ears cocking up at him (adorably, of course). She set the rest of the berries before Zym, who gobbled them up greedily. Frowning, Rayla sat next to Callum, close to the campfire. She mirrored his sitting position, sitting with her legs crossed and peering at him thoughtfully.

“Are you all right?” she asked, tossing another stick into the flames. “You’ve been acting kind of weird today. And yesterday. And the day before that, actually.”

“Yep!” Callum exclaimed, his voice cracking. “I’m fine!”

She cocked an eyebrow at him, as she was fond of doing. “Yeah, suuure, and I’m the Queen of the Dragons.”

Zym looked up at that statement, a befuzzled look on his snout. After a moment, he returned to nuzzling the cave floor for more berries to eat.

“Seriously, Callum,” Rayla said, laying one of her hands on top of his. “What’s wrong?”

Callum’s face only burned hotter. Once, the casual intimacy between them wouldn’t have phased him, but that was before he realized how that casual intimacy made him felt. He said nothing, but he did flip his hand around to grip hers. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Rayla coughed. When he looked over at her, she was staring back at him with a serious expression, though her ears were tinged with a slight pink color. It was probably because of the heat of the campfire nearby.

“Come on,” she said. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

Callum knew he could. He knew it like he knew breathing. It was frightening, because he had only known her for a few months and he already trusted her as much as he trusted Ezran. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Callum had to say it. He had to say  _ something. _ At least that way, she could tell him that she didn’t feel the same and he could put the  _ what ifs? _ out of his mind. They could return Zym to his mother and all would be well. No complications or mistakes born of Callum’s sudden inability to concentrate would arise.

“Okay,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Well, you know how a few days ago, m-my feet got cold in the middle of the night? And…and then I put them on top of yours?”

Rayla tensed. He closed his eyes and began to speak rapid fire, afraid of what would happen when he finally stopped.

“W-well it made me realize that I kind of liked that, and  _ that _ made me realize that I sort of like  _ you _ , but in a ‘more-than-friends’ kind of way, even though our friendship is great and I wouldn’t change it for the world, and I know this is super weird and unexpected and I know that you probably don’t feel the same way so if we could just get back to the mission and return Zym to his mother without talking about this ever again, that would be great, because―”

He felt a hand on his face. He cracked his eyes open, staring at her dumbfoundedly.

Rayla was suddenly a lot closer, something that he hadn’t noticed because of his rambling. Their knees were touching, and she had leaned forward to cup his face with one hand, running her thumb across the arch of his cheekbone. She was looking at him with a strange sort of fire in her eyes, and the sight of it made his breath hitch.

Maybe things weren’t so hopeless after all.

“R-Rayla?” he managed to stammer out. It was a wonder he was able to talk at all, for his heart was a cuckoo-clock, pounding out of his chest with each passing second and drowning out his capacity to think properly.

A smirk from the elf just a few inches away from him. So close. “Shut up, you dumb human.”

He shut up.

And a moment later, a pair of lips crashed into his own, working slow and deliberately. Like a love-sick moron, Callum sighed into it and kissed Rayla back, gently cupping her face as her hands moved down and gripped his shoulders.

It looked like he would never have to worry about cold feet again. Rayla’s kiss warmed him all the way down to the tips of his toes.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah so I don’t have much experience writing kissing scenes but i’m trying to get better okay. Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> another shameless plug: follow me on twitter @noname4hire_ao3 because i only have ten followers and i'm lonely uwu


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